Montana Fish Parks and Wildlife
The animal whose identity baffled wildlife officials and piqued public curiosity turns out to be a female gray wolf.

In May, a rancher shot and killed the wolf on his property near the Montana town of Denton. He brought the carcass to state wildlife authorities, who were puzzled by its appearance and speculated the animal may have been a wolf-dog hybrid. Officials sent the carcass for further inspection to a lab in Bozeman, Montana. Tissue samples were then sent to the Oregon lab for DNA testing.

Initial “confusion” about the creature could have been “due to the condition of the animal and the photos, which seemed to show short legs and big ears,” the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in Monday’s statement. When researchers examined the animal in Bozeman, they found a “relatively normal looking, dark brown wolf,” according to the release.

Montana Fish Parks and Wildlife
Although officials were initially puzzled by the animal, further inspection revealed a "relatively normal looking" gray wolf.

The wolf was 2 years to 3 years old and she wasn’t lactating, meaning she didn’t leave a litter of pups behind.

The rancher who shot the wolf didn’t break the law, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks statement noted, because it’s legal in Montana for property owners to shoot wolves they believe threaten their livestock.